Calming down Harvey

[jtpRUGGER]

This is Harvey. He is a gold spot Varanus timorensis, and is about 16 inches long. He has been living with a slightly larger water monitor for the last year. I recently acquired him, and am having to treat him for a nasty wound on his chest, that I assume came from fighting with the water monitor. I was curious if anybody has any suggestions for ways to calm him down...he has never really been handled, and is still very very frightened of humans. I've been trying the traditional stuff that I've used on snakes, but he just seems to be too scared. I would really like to calm him down before he gets much bigger. Anybody have any ideas?

[V.hb]

leave him alone until the wounds heal.. Timors are pretty skittish, dont harrass him too much. Lots of hide spots are a must!!

[jtpRUGGER]

Thanks for the reply, V.hb. I have really only been messing with him when its time to change his substrate, or doctor his wounds...and even then its minimum necessary...I only handle him when applying antibiotics...I was more interested in tips to calm him down once he is better.

[Steeve B]

pleas seperate them for good before you find one dead. as for calming him down, forget about it he most likely will not befor a few years.
regds

[jtpRUGGER]

SteeveB, I brought him home so that they would be separated. Thats how/why I acquired him.

[V.hb]

calming down a timor is alot of work.... Try and get him/her use to accepting food from tongs, only interact when feeding for awhile,, usually triggers some response.

[Bartman]

you can try the old myth of wearing a shirt for the day and than put it in the tank and he will aquire your scent..lol..it might work you never know. I tried it with my tegu and i have gone a long way with his temperment. good luck with it and i hope he heals well!

[tabastifur]

If you can "tame" that Timor, you are frigging Ace Ventura or something because I have had nothing but trouble when it comes to handling my Timor Marty.

[Steeve B]

V.hb is right thats the best way to go, until he lose fear of you, then things start to improuve, be patient as a ZEN master.
Rgds

[jtpRUGGER]

I've calmed down tegus and some of the larger species of monitors, but I've never worked with smaller species of varanids. Thanks for all the good tips guys. Rest assured Harvey is in a better home now.

[V.hb]

good luck with him. They're really skittish by nature, from what I have seen anyways.. I personally have never seen one calm down, only somewhat tolerate human presence. good luck!

[jtpRUGGER]

By the way, do any of you guys have pics of full-grown Timors? If so, I would like to see them...Thanks.

[V.hb]

That timor is pretty much full-grown.

[jtpRUGGER]

It was my understanding that this species usually attains lengths of 22-24 inches TL. Harvey is only about 15-16 inches TL. That makes me think he still has some growing to do. If you dont want to send pics, though, you could just say so.

[V.hb]

Hey, calm down there bud.. As to his body, and head size etc, and the obvious neglect he has been through, chances are he wont grow anymore. I meant nothing by it, and I dont have any pics of my old timors on this machine, so I have none to post. If i took you the wrong way, my apologies but if not, dont take things so personally.